


Seigaku’s Haunted School of Doom (Tenipuri Halloween Special)

by TheRainRogue



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Comedy, Friendship, Halloween, Other, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24465430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRainRogue/pseuds/TheRainRogue
Summary: “I’m so excited!” Eiji yelled, throwing his arms up into the air.Of course, you were all at after school Tennis Practice. No one was really practicing though; they were too excited. See, tomorrow is Hallows Eve and since it’s a Friday, Seishun is holding a ‘free day’ where students can come and go as they please. Best of all, there’s no classes and no learning. There’re other perks, of course, like all you can eat candy and pizza, plus you’re allowed to dress up. Even better, the principle of Seishun got into contact with the Principle of Hyotei, St. Rudolph, Fudomine, Yamabuki, Josei, Rikkaidai, and Rokkaku.
Collections: Anime, Halloween~!, One Shots





	1. Chapter 1

  * **Genre** : Comedy, Friendship, Slice of Life ☁
  * **Word Count** : 2,104 ☁
  * **Pairing** : None ☁
  * **World** : Anime, Prince of Tennis ☁



_I wrote this so many years ago when I watched the Halloween episode of the show lol Found it buried in my writing folder and thought I’d share. The final part is not done, but maybe I’ll finish it up for Halloween this year?_ 😛

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

“I’m so excited!” Eiji yelled, throwing his arms up into the air.

Of course, you were all at after school Tennis Practice. No one was really practicing though; they were too excited. See, tomorrow is Hallows Eve and since it’s a Friday, Seishun is holding a ‘free day’ where students can come and go as they please. Best of all, there’s no classes and no learning. There’re other perks, of course, like all you can eat candy and pizza, plus you’re allowed to dress up. Even better, the principle of Seishun got into contact with the Principle of Hyotei, St. Rudolph, Fudomine, Yamabuki, Josei, Rikkaidai, and Rokkaku.

Once he got the other Principles to agree, he sent invitations to the students, telling them that they’re allowed to come and that they won’t get into any trouble for leaving school.  
Eiji, among everyone else, was so excited that he couldn’t stay still for more than two seconds; yes, they counted. Even Ryoma was showing signs of excitement. In all honesty, the only one who wasn’t excited was your captain, Tezuka, who refused the invitation as soon as he heard. Apparently, your captain has no sense of fun.

“Hey, Y/N!” Eiji appeared in your face, making you jump back a few steps. “Guess what I’m going as!”

“Er…” You rubbed the back of your neck and looked over at Fuji who had his hands balled into fists next to each other, held in front of his chest. His shoulders slouched slightly, as well. “A cat?”

“No fair!” He stomped his foot, throwing his hands up as he turned around to yell at the now innocent-looking Fuji. “That’s cheating, Fuji!”

He shrugged, smiling. “Sorry, but I don’t know what you mean.”

“You do too!” He stomped over to him, yelling. Fuji just chuckled in amusement as he watched the hyperactive boy pout in a childish manner.

“It suits him, don’t you think?” Oishi stood next to you, smiling as he watched the two boys. Amusement was clearly playing in his eyes, “Eiji has always acted similar to a cat.”

You chuckled in response, “Now that you mention it, he does act cat-like at times.”

Oishi smiled at you, “Will you be dressing up?”

“If I had my way, no, but knowing Momo and Kamio, they’ll force me to.” You sighed, scowling at the idea.

“Oh, come on.” He put his arm around your shoulder and grinned. “It won’t be that bad,”

You scoffed, folding your arms over your chest. “You apparently don’t know Momo and Kamio that well,”

“Well, you’ll still have me and Fuji there.”

“True. So, what will you be dressing up as, Oishi?”

“Actually, I haven’t decided yet.” He rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. “I’m supposed to go with Eiji and Fuji after practice to find one.”

“Have fun,” You grinned.

He nodded with a smile and walked off.

You had to admit, tomorrow would be an amazing day to be sure. You just hope Fuji didn’t bring that damned camera of his. You also couldn’t help but wonder who will accept the invitation.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

Practice had ended and most of the students had gone home, chatting excitedly about tomorrow. Costumes and who would attend seemed to be very popular subjects. It seems like every student you passed on the sidewalk was talking about it.

“Man, I think everyone knows about that party.” Momo folded his hands behind his head as he walked down the street, you at his side.

“Well, the principle of each school probably told their students before they left.” You stuffed your hands into the pockets of your jacket.

“Oi! Guys! Wait up!”

You stopped walking and turned around to see Kamio running towards you. Once he caught up, you started to walk again.

“Man, tomorrow is gonna be so great!” He grinned, walking in between the two of you.

“ _You’re_ coming?” Momo asked.

“Of course!” Kamio nodded, his grin widening. “Tachibana, An, Shinji, Tetsu, and Uchimura are going, too. The others weren’t interested, though.”

“Uchimura? He’s the short kid with the hat, right?”

“Yeah. He only agreed because Tetsu is going. And Tachibana only agreed because An asked him.”

“Makes sense. I mean, Tachibana isn’t really the kind of guy to be into that sorta thing.” You murmured.

“You don’t, either.” Kamio pointed out.

You shrugged, “I’m not, really. I’m mainly going because of Fuji.”

Momo scowled, glaring at me. “How come he can get you to go? When you told me, your _best friend_ , straight out no.”

“Because I actually like Fuji. You, I can’t stand.” You smirked, ignoring his yells of protest as you walked into the burger place. The first thing you noticed upon entering was a group of students clad in yellow. Ignoring them, however, you made your way to a booth by the window. Momo and Kamio sat across from you.

“Hey, aren’t those guys part of Rikkaidai’s tennis team?” Kamio whispered, leaning forward slightly.

“Looks like it,” Momo muttered. “Let’s pray they don’t see us,”

As soon as the words left his mouth, one of the guys looked over at you and glared at the two boys in front of you. Upon noticing this, the boys squirmed uncomfortably.

“Why the hell is he glaring at us?” Momo muttered.

Kamio shrugged. “Who is he?”

“Genichiro Sanada. Co-Captain of Rikkaidai’s tennis team.” Your head rested in the palm of your hand as you read over the menu.

Both boys looked up at you. “Huh?”

“How do you know that?” Momo narrowed his eyes at you.

You shrugged. “I’m special,”

“Seriously, Y/N. How do you know him?” Kamio demanded.

You rolled your eyes. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,”

“Try us!”

“Can I take your order?” The waitress appeared, holding a pen and notepad.

“Five cheeseburgers and a coke,” Momo smiled.

“Three cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a coke,” Kamio told her.

“Two cheeseburgers and a coke.”

She wrote our orders down, smiled and walked away.

“I swear, you guys eat way too much. No wonder you’re so fat.”

Both of them stood quickly, slamming their hands on the table. “We are not fat!”

Quite a few people looked over at you, including the Rikkaidai students.

You chuckled as the two sat back down, their arms folded as they glared at you. “You two are so much alike.”

“We are not!” They chorused, causing them to turn their glares on each other. “Stop repeating me! No, you stop it!”

You burst out laughing, arms wrapped around your stomach; you were laughing so hard that you fell out of the booth and onto the floor.

“It’s not funny damn you!” They chorused again.

Someone cleared their throat and you looked up, seeing your beloved captain. “What the hell are you doing?”

You grinned, pulling yourself to your feet, “Just laughing at two bafoons,”

He sighed, sliding into the booth. You took a seat next to him.

“Hey, Captain? Why aren’t you going tomorrow?” Momo asked as the food came; he gave two of his burgers to Tezuka.

“I’m not interested in such things,” he responded, unwrapping the burger; he was sharing your drink.

“Tachibana and I aren’t either. We’re still going,” You told him.

He shrugged, “He’s going because of his sister. You’re going because Fuji threatened you.”

You sweatdropped as you sat back, rubbing the back of your neck. “That’s true enough, Captain.”

“Huh? He’s threatening you?” Kamio blinked.

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Momo sighed as he polished off his last burger.

“He said something along the lines of, _‘I don’t want to be alone with these idiots’_.” You shrugged, finishing your own burgers and taking a sip of your coke.

Tezuka stared at you, then turned his gaze to the Rikkaidai table. “Are they going?”

“Dunno. I doubt it.”

“Let me know what happens,” he said, pushing you gently out of the booth so he could stand. He pulled some money out of his pocket, threw it on the table and left. You sat back down and sighed.

“Does that mean he expects something to happen?” Momo muttered.

“Maybe. I mean, it _is_ possible if Rikkaidai _does_ show up.” You stood back up and stretched. Kamio and Momo stood as well and followed you out the door after paying.

“Oh, man!” Kamio groaned, looking at the watch on his wrist. “I was supposed to meet An and Shinji fifteen minutes ago!” With that, he took off. You and Momo exchanged glances before shrugging and going your separate ways.

When you got to your place, you went straight to your room, throwing the bag on the floor and collapsing on the bed. You took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. To be honest, you weren’t sure whether you should be excited or annoyed.

The party could be pretty fun. You never get to go crazy in school, after all. On the other hand, you were being forced into it. No doubt you’ll be helping to carry Eiji home, too, since there is an unlimited candy supply. Half the kids there would probably be bouncing off the walls, literally.

A knock on your door brought you back to reality. “You need to stop zoning out,” It was your older brother, Genichirou.

“Something I can help you with?”

He sat on the side of your bed. “Who were those guys you were with earlier?”

You sighed, “Do we have to do this _‘older brother protective routine’_?”

He glared at you, “I worry about my little sister.”

“With no reason,” You muttered, glaring right back at him. He sighed, standing up and walking to the door.

“I’m going to be there,” With that, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

The next morning, you woke up to pressure on your stomach. When you opened your eyes, Eiji came into view. He was sitting on your stomach, smiling like a little kid on Christmas morning.

“What time is it?” You yawned.

“Eight in the morning,” He grinned.

You narrowed your eyes as you sat up, pushing the boy off and onto the floor. His expression was between that of a pout and a _‘don’t-kill-me’_ look.

“How did you even get in here, Eiji?” You muttered, rubbing your head and stifling another yawn.

“Your brother let me in,”

You gave him a questioning look and he nodded.

“Said you’d probably be mad if he turned me away.”

“What do you want anyway?” You asked as you stood up, exiting the room. Your brother was already in the kitchen, dressed and ready for the day.

He glanced at you as you sat down at the table. “Hungry?”

“Little bit,” You answered, yawning as Eiji sat next to you, pouting.

“Can you make some for Eiji, too?”

He stiffened before muttering, “Sure,”

Eiji’s pout turned into a grin. “So, are we leaving after we eat?”

You glared at the hyperactive boy. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to school at eight in the morning when I don’t have to.”

His grin dropped back into a pout, “But Y/N~!”

“Don’t whine,”

He grabbed onto my arm, “We have to get there early!”

“Then go. I’m not stopping you.”

“But I wanna go with you!” He whined again.

 _‘I swear, that boy can be so childish’_ , you thought. “Compromise with me, Eiji. We’ll go at twelve O’clock, okay?”

“Ten!”

“Eleven-thirty,”

“Deal!” He smiled brightly as Genichirou set the food down in front of you before grabbing his own and sitting across from Eiji and next to you. “Did you get your costume?”

“Unfortunately,” you muttered, watching the redhead inhale his food. “Ever heard of chewing?”

He grinned, shaking his head as he finished off his plate in record time. “Thank you, the food was amazing.”

Genichirou glanced at him before looking away.

“He may not look it, but my brother is an amazing cook,” you smirked, earning a glare from the elder Sanada.

You finished your food and headed upstairs with Eiji trailing behind you.

“I wonder what kind of candy they’ll have. The teachers promised an unlimited supply!”

You rolled your eyes as you fell onto the bed. Eiji plopped down beside you, sitting with his legs folded under him.

“I wonder what kind of pizza and drinks they’ll have,”

“A variety probably. Since so many people are going to be there, they’ll probably have different kinds.”

“Oh, I get it!” He grinned, “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!”

You rolled your eyes at the overly excited, laughing redhead. How were you going to survive his hyper activeness until eleven-thirty?

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━


	2. Chapter 2

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

You were headed for Seishun Academy, carrying the backpack that held your costume. Since Eiji wouldn’t quit whining, you left at eleven o’clock instead of eleven-thirty. By the time you reached the school, however, it was about eleven-twenty.

You had to say, the school didn’t even look like a school. There were cobwebs hanging all over the trees, real live bats hovering overhead. The pathway leading to the door was surrounded on either side by unlit Jack-O-Lanterns. You could see black cats sleeping in the grass, laying under trees and hiding in the bushes. Fog was covering the ground, making the grass almost impossible to see. They even had a few headstones and skeletons scattered around.

On the wall next to the door was a skeleton pinned there by a knife through its heart – or where it’s heart would have been. Blood was dripping down the wall from the wound to the grass.

There was also half a body off to the side, it’s mouth open and eyes wide. If you had to guess, you’d say it was animatronic.

Glow sticks were being handed out by the door in choices of blue, green, yellow, red and orange. Behind the boy stood about ten different bins filled to the top with varied glowsticks; Necklaces, bracelets, and rings.

“Oooh! Oooh! Can we get some? Ple~ase?”

“Sure, Eiji.”

He grinned and asked the ninth-grade boy for a blue and green glow necklace. You took an orange glowstick that hung down low on a piece of rubbery string.

Once inside, you were completely shocked at what you saw. There were tables, one right after the other, lined up against the wall leading all the way down the hall. Each table was either filled with candy, drinks or pizza.

They went all out! Pepperoni, sausage, vegetarian, cheese, bbq chicken, and meat lovers to name a few of the pizza selections. Cherry Pepsi, vanilla Coke, fruit punch, 7UP, Mountain Dew, even tea and Kool-Aid!

What was really amazing was the candy selection. Jawbreakers, sour gummy worms, nestle crunch, nerds, 3 Muskateers, nerds rope, snow caps, skittles, Hershey bars, M&M’s, Milky Way, Kit Kat, Twix, Starburst, Twizzlers, Candied Apples, Jolly Ranchers, Air Heads, Suckers and so many more, you couldn’t even name them all.

Eiji’s eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights as his mouth hung open. It was easy to see that he was ready to pounce on one of the candy tables.

He only managed to take a couple of steps before one of the ninth graders grabbed him. The boy pushed his glasses up with his index finger before speaking. “Do not even think about it, Eiji Kikumaru! I will not let your childish ways ruin this day in any way! Do you understand me?”

Clearly, this boy was one of the volunteer students who helped to set all of this up. Eiji gave him a pout, but the boy didn’t budge.

“Candy is off-limits until dark. I’m hoping I can trust you, Sanada Y/N, to keep this boy under control.”

You raised an eyebrow. Was this guy serious? “Uh, sure.”

He simply nodded and walked off.

You and Eiji glanced at each other before taking off walking towards the rooms they had set up for changing; one for the girls and one for the boys.

You sighed deeply as you changed into your costume which consisted of brown pants, white and black skull sneakers, a white baggy shirt and a black coat. Your nails were painted black and you had a black choker around your neck. You also wore a brown belt around your waist that carried your sword.

You walked out of the room to see Eiji standing there waiting on you. His costume was fairly simple; a white catsuit with his face exposed. Painted on his face were black whiskers and a nose, and he also had fangs.

He grinned when he saw you, “You look amazing!”

“Thanks. So do you, Kikucat.” You smirked, flicking his forehead.

“I wonder when they others’ll get here.”

You started to wander the halls, side by side, taking in the various decorations and costumes.

“Some of them might already be here,” you murmured.

Not many students had actually arrived yet, but the ones that had arrived had already changed into their costumes. The only people not in costumes were the ninth grade supervisors who wore the school uniform.

“Do you know what everyone is going as?” he questioned.

“Not a clue,”

“Neither do I,” he pouted.

“You’ll know soon enough.” As soon as you finished speaking, someone ran into you, falling to the floor. Upon looking down, you noticed the familiar purple hair of the only boy shorter than Echizen; Shou Ota from Josei.

You held your hand out to him and he grabbed it, allowing you to pull him to his feet. He muttered a ‘sorry’ and dusted off his Josei uniform.

Takahisa Kajimoto, the captain of the Josei Tennis Team, appeared a few seconds later. “I told you not to run,” he scolded.

Shou looked down, muttering another “sorry”.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Kajimoto apologized. Of course, since he was the captain he felt the need to apologize every time a member of his team did something they shouldn’t.

“It’s not a big deal,”

Eiji nodded, “Yeah, no harm done!”

“This place is really amazing. They did an awesome job on it.” Kajimoto commented as he walked next to you. Shou was walking a little bit in front.

“How come the two of you didn’t dress up?” Eiji asked, curiously.

“We didn’t want to,” Shou muttered.

“Oh,”

“Are the others here? I was hoping to talk to Tezuka.” Kajimoto asked.

“We haven’t seen any of them, yet,” Eiji started.

“And Tezzy didn’t want to come,” you finished.

“How come?”

“Said it wasn’t his thing,” you shrugged.

“Oh, I see,” he chuckled.

Shou stopped walking, making the three of you stop as well. In front of him stood a seventh-grade blonde girl who was dressed as a fairy princess. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the small purple-haired boy. Shou took a step back and you placed your hands on his shoulders, making him glance up at you before looking back at the girl.

She stepped forward, “I thought I told you to leave.”

“You can’t tell him that!” Eiji huffed.

“I can tell him whatever I like!” She shrieked, pointing at Shou. “That stupid brat ruined my sister’s costume!”

“She ran into _me,_ ” he defended, quietly.

“Don’t you dare, you pathetic little boy!” She stomped her foot in anger, “My sister isn’t a clumsy idiot like you!”

“Just calm down,” Kajimoto stepped forward. Always the level headed one. “It was an accident.”

“No way! Not until he apologizes!”

“He’s not going to,” you told her, holding him firmly in front of you.

Eiji nodded in agreement, putting his own hand on the small boy’s shoulder, “He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I can’t believe you’re sticking up for that spoiled brat!”

“The only spoiled brat around here is you.” You spat, pushing Shou forward so that he’d start walking. The two boys followed, glaring at her as they passed. You stopped in the first empty classroom you could find which was quite a bit difficult.

Shou turned around and looked at the two of you, “Why’d you stick up for me?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Eiji blinked in a confused manner.

“You didn’t know the situation! I could have been lying,”

“Were you?”

“Well, no.”

“See?” Eiji grinned.

“How could you know that?” Shou asked, confused.

“Call it instinct,” you told him, smiling.

He stared at you in shock, “I-Instinct?”

Eiji nodded, holding up two fingers to form a V, “Me and Y/N are really good at reading people. We woulda known if you were lying!”

Shou’s shock resided, to be replaced by a smile. “Thank you,”

“Don’t mention it,” We chorused.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

After your little encounter with the two Josei boys, you decided to head out to the tennis courts for some fresh air. What you found was Echizen and Taka, already in their costumes, playing a game of tennis. You had to admit, it was kinda funny seeing them like that.

Echizen’s costume consisted of light brown pants, a white button-up long-sleeved shirt with small ruffles down the front, and a light brown coat. He wore dark brown boots and a brown hat with two grey feathers sticking out of the left side. A black belt with a gold buckle was secured around his waist with his sword hanging from the left side. If you weren’t mistaken, he was dressed as a Muskateer.

Taka was dressed as a baseball player. He had on a white shirt and pants with black vertical stripes. His shirt was tucked in and his pants were held by a small black belt, which also held his baseball bat that hung from the back. A white baseball cap covered his brown hair, while black baseball shoes covered his feet.

“Hoi, Hoi!” Eiji exclaimed, running onto the court and tackling the caught off guard Echizen into his death grip.

Taka blinked as he watched the scene before him. A big white cat squeezing the small Echizen in a bone-crushing hug while Ryoma struggled to break free.

“He needs to breathe, Eiji.” Fuji appeared next to you, smiling at the two boys.

Shusuke was dressed as a samurai, his sword strapped to his back. His samurai outfit was made of blue and purple cloth.

He smiled at you, “Everyone is starting to arrive. Shall we go?”

“What time is it?” Taka asked as he put his tennis racket away.

“About five-thirty. Nightfall is about six-forty-five,” Fuji responded before turning around and heading for the school.

Once you got back inside, you noticed the small group of people standing by the stairs. Oishi, Inui, An, Kamio, and Shinji.

Oishi was dressed as a zombie bowler – why doesn’t that surprise anyone? Tan slacks, black bowling shoes and a blue short-sleeved t-shirt with a black bowling glove. His skin was made to look extremely pale and he had various black marks on his skin. A bowling ball was hanging from the loose belt he wore.

Inui was dressed as an Egyptian Scribe. He had gold bands around both arms and his forehead, as well as a white sleeveless shirt that came down just above his knees. Gold sandals were on his feet, with straps that crawled halfway up his legs. He also held a small stone tablet that looked a lot like that damned book of his.

An had decided to go as an aqua fairy. Her dress was a silk turquoise that clung tightly to her chest and stomach but poofed out when it reached her knees. Deep turquoise and black wings were sprouted from the back of the dress, while a black chocker clung to her neck. She wore black and blue tennis shoes, turquoise nail polish and lip gloss, and black clips in her hair.

Kamio’s costume was quite interesting. He had gone as a living dead mouse. He was sporting a mouse tail and mouse ears, both of which had been modified to resemble that of zombie flesh. His face was painted in a similar fashion, with a black nose and whiskers. The beige shorts and red shirt he was wearing had been torn and ripped, while painted on cuts covered his pale skin.

Shinji, however, had gone ninja. He was covered from head to toe in a deep blue cloth. His eyes and a few strands of his blue hair were the only things showing through. His hands had been covered with the same color gloves. A pouch had been made in the back of the suit so that his sword could rest comfortably. A silver dragon with red eyes, easily the most noticeable thing, was stretched out across his chest.

“There you are,” Inui pushed his glasses up as you approached the group.

“You guys look amazing!” An commented.

“So do you!” Eiji grinned, glomping the girl and earning quite a few death glares from Kamio who went into a fit of protests. Eiji’s only response was sticking his tongue out at him, which only angered him even more.

“Kaidoh and Momo have yet to appear,” Inui murmured, looking at the small stone tablet in his hands.

“Tetsu, Tachibana-san and Uchimura should be here soon,” Shinji said softly before going into one of his muttering spells.

“Ah. Yuuta and Yanagizawa are coming, as well.” Fuji added.

“And if they come, you know Mizuki will too,” you muttered.

“Ayah! The real fun won’t come until everyone is here!” Eiji whined, clinging to Oishi.

“That’s for sure,” you chuckled.

“Ryoma-sama!”

Turning around, you saw Tomoka and Sakuno running towards the group. A little ways back, you could see the seventh-grade trio breathing heavily and trying to catch up to the two girls.

“You look amazing, Ryoma-sama!” Tomoka gushed, glomping the helpless boy who looked at you and Fuji for help. You just shrugged and Fuji smiled – of course, he was enjoying this.

Tomoka’s costume consisted of a yellow and white sleeveless shirt and skirt. Her pompoms were yellow and blue, while her tennis shoes were pure white. She also wore purple ribbons in her hair and purple stars painted on her left cheek.

Sakuno had gone as an enchanted butterfly, which was quite similar to An’s costume. Her dress was a deep purple and she had purple, blue and black butterfly wings sprouting from her back. Her shoes were white with purple stripes, and she also wore deep purple elbow gloves.

“Y-You’re costume is really nice, Ryoma-kun,” she said softly, a small tint of pink coming to her cheeks.

Tomoka let go of Echizen and stomped over to her, pointing her finger in her face, “Nice? You should say something like ‘amazing!’ or ‘brilliant!’,”

“Oi! Echizen!” Horio gasped as the three of them finally caught up.

Horio was dressed in Harry Potter robes – a Gryffindor.

Kachiro had gone as a transformer, the suit being made of a mix between cloth and metal.

Katsuo had decided on being a blue M&M.

Eiji managed to pull Tomoka, who had latched back onto Echizen, off and Ryoma moved to stand behind Fuji.

“Oi, Echizen?” Horio finally caught his breath, “What’re you supposed to be?”

“Muskateer,” he muttered.

“Shouldn’t there be three of you then?”

“Idiot!” Tomoka hit him in the head. “Ryoma-sama is so cool he doesn’t need two others!”

Echizen sighed, mumbling to himself as he turned around and took off walking down the hallway. The rest of the group followed.

“Bye, Ryoma-sama!” Was the last thing you heard before turning the corner. Echizen scoffed, which made Eiji chuckle.

“Her outfit does suit her,” Fuji mused.

“Suit who?” Tachibana walked out of one of the classrooms and into the hall to stand in front of us. Tetsu and Uchimura stood on either side of him.

Tachibana was dressed as a gangster. He had somewhat baggy blue jeans on, a gold button-up shirt which was halfway unbuttoned and a bandana wrapped around his head. A black and gold fedora was put on top of that, which had a feather sticking out of the left side and a gold chain with a money sign pendant hung from his neck.

Tetsu was dressed as a groom ghost. The skin that wasn’t covered by his tuxedo was made to glow a soft white. A long black hat was placed on his head and black tennis shoes covered his feet.

Kyosuke was dressed as himself, wearing the Fudomine school uniform. The only difference was the fact that he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“Bro!” An grinned, hugging Tachibana tightly.

“This is a really cool set up,” Tetsu grinned, glancing around.

“They worked really hard on it,” Eiji said.

“It’s six-twenty. Shouldn’t the rest of your group be here?” Tachibana asked, checking the gold watch on his wrist.

“They might be,” Fuji mused as you all took off down the hall once again. You, Echizen, and Kyosuke were in the very back, trailing behind the others.

“Huh?” Ryoma stopped in front of one of the open classrooms, which caused both you and Kyosuke to stop as well.

Inside the room stood Momoshiro and Kaidoh, both of which had decided to dress as Dracula. They were holding each other by the collar of their cloak, glaring daggers at each other. You could even see the small line of electricity that connected the two rivals.

You burst out laughing, causing both boys to turn their glares onto you. “What the hell are you laughing at?!”

“Two idiots who are more alike than they care to admit.” You chuckled, holding onto Kyosuke’s shoulder to support your shaking form. They scowled, their glare becoming more intense as their annoyance grew.

Kyosuke pulled on the back of your shirt lightly to get my attention, “We lost the others.”

“Eh?” You looked over to where the group had previously been. “So we have,”

“Let’s not look for them.” Ryoma muttered, “They were getting on my nerves.”

You shrugged. “Whatever,”

Ryoma started to walk up the nearest staircase and the four of you followed. Ryoma was leading, Kyosuke was walking next to you, and the two vampric idiots brought up the rear, still arguing.

“Hey, Echizen?”

“Yes, Y/N-senpai?”

“Think Tezzy would get mad if I pushed Momo and Kaidoh down the stairs?”

“Probably,”

“We could say it was an accident,” you suggested.

“Fuji-senpai would see through that, don’t you think?” He glanced over his shoulder at you.

“True,”

“Well, well. Look what we found.” The five of us stopped walking and looked up at the top of the stairs. Shinya and Yuuta were standing on either side of Mizuki, who was smirking down at you.

Shinya had decided not to dress up and, instead, wore white shorts and a baggy blue t-shirt.

Yuuta, however, was dressed as a doctor. Brown slacks, a white long-sleeved shirt, a blue tie, and a faded blue vest. He wore a white lab coat over that and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck.

Mizuki’s costume stood out the most, though. Baggy black shorts situated with chains, black and white chucks, a black shirt with a silver skull covering the chest and black eyeliner. He had a black wristband on his left wrist and a black leather spiked bracelet on the other, as well as a black spiked choker around his neck. His fingernails had also been painted black, while a deep blue guitar was strapped to his back. Mizuki had gone punk rocker.

“Mizuki… you look so… different.” You commented.

“I don’t think different is the word, senpai,” Ryoma muttered from beside you.

“That is the point, right?” Mizuki smirked, twirling a piece of his dark hair around his finger.

“Y-Yeah,” Momo muttered from behind you. Apparently, the shock of seeing a different Mizuki had caused the two vampires to stop bickering. Instead, they stared at Mizuki as if he were a three-headed alien dog.

“You don’t even look like Mizuki anymore!” Momo exclaimed, pointing a finger at the black-haired boy.

You nodded, “The only thing that’s the same is your eyes and hair.”

His smirk widened. “How sweet of you to notice,”

You rolled your eyes, climbing the remaining steps. The rest of the group followed, leaving the St. Rudolph boys behind. You kept walking until you ran into even more friends. Seriously, who would have thought all these people would actually show up?

Sengoku, Dan, and Akutsu were standing near the wall, chatting with each other. Well, Sengoku and Dan were talking. Akutsu was just standing there, scowling at the wall, like that’s anything new.

Sengoku had gone as a roman, while Dan chose Peter Pan. The grumpy ass went as himself.

“Y/N-chan!” Sengoku grinned, pulling you into a hug before you could stop him. “I’m a lucky roman!”

You sweatdropped, trying to free yourself from the playboy.

“Lucky Roman?” Kaoru muttered.

“You look like a normal roman to me,” Momo commented, crossing his arms over his chest. Kaidoh nodded in agreement.

Sengoku blinked, finally letting you go and walking over to the pair. You sighed and stood next to Akutsu, who was still glaring at the wall, and watched the three bickering boys. Sengoku was trying to defend the fact that he was a ‘lucky’ roman. While Momo and Kaidoh argued back about him being a ‘normal’ roman.

“I’m surprised you came,” you glanced at Akutsu who shrugged.

“Dan wouldn’t quit buggin’ me,”

You looked over at Dan who stood between Sengoku and the two vampires. He was trying to stop their argument but, from the looks of it, wasn’t having much luck.

“Makes sense,”

“Kawamura here?”

“Somewhere. You wanna go find ’em?”

He shrugged, looking out the window. “Don’t care,”

“‘ _Don’t care_ ‘, my ass.” You grinned, causing him to glare at you. “Face it, Akutsu. You can talk big all you want, but me and Taka know you care.”

He scoffed in annoyance and you chuckled.

“My, my. What have we here?”

You knew that annoying voice anywhere. Looking over, you saw Atobe and the entire Hyotei tennis team.

Atobe, of course, had gone as a prince, while Kabaji went as a knight. Oh, the irony!  
Hiyoshi, who looked none to happy about being there, was dressed as a detective, somewhat similar to Sherlock Holmes.

Shishido had gone as a Skeleton. He had a skeleton bodysuit on and his face was painted to match. Of course, he still had his hat on. Choutarou was dressed as an Indian which, in a weird way, seemed to suit him. He had applied what I’m guessing to be a spray tan so that his skin came off as a little bit darker.

Jirou’s costume was the best, in your opinion. He decided to go as the Gecko from the Geico commercials. An entire, full green lizard suit – the belly of the suit was white, of course. Gakuto, who looked even more unhappy than Hiyoshi, was dressed as a jailbird, orange jumpsuit and all. Yuushi was dressed as himself and was receiving quite a few death glares from Gakuto.

You raised your eyebrow in question, looking between the two boys.

“Gakuto is mad at Yuushi,” Choutarou clarified.

“Atobe made all of us dress up, whether we wanted to or not! Yet, Yuushi isn’t dressed as anything!” Gakuto fumed.

Yuushi pushed his glasses up with his index finger, a smirk gracing his lips. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m dressed as an honor student.”

“That’s not fair!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

Yuushi’s smirk widened, “Atobe said we had to dress up. Technically, I _am_ dressed up.”

Gakuto huffed, turning around so that his back faced the blue-haired boy.

Atobe ran a hand through his purple hair. “The king approves,”

You rolled your eyes, “You love causing trouble, don’t you, Atobe.”

“Ah, Ah.” He wagged his finger at you, a smirk appearing on his face. “That’s king Atobe.”

“Gimme a break,” you scoffed.

He walked up to you, grabbing a strand of your hair and twirling it around his finger. “You _will_ be awed by my prowess,”

“The only thing I’m going to be awed by is your stupidity.” You slapped his hand away and walked past the group of Hyotei boys. The last thing you heard before turning around the corner was Momo bursting into fits of laughter. You felt a tug at your hand and looked down to see Kyosuke walking next to you.

“I don’t feel comfortable with them,” He muttered.

“I don’t blame you on that,” you told him with a grin, which he returned with a smile.

“Y/N~chan~!” A red blur tackled you in a hug, causing you to lose your balance and fall to the floor. Upon closer inspection, you realized the red blur was Kentarou from Rokkaku.

“Try not to kill her,” Saeki appeared, with Hikaru and Harukaze on either side of him.

“Sorry, Y/N-chan!” Kentaro apologized, pulling you to my feet. “Is Echizen-kun here?”

You pointed over your shoulder and the seventh-grade boy took off around the corner, Hikaru and Harukaze following.

“Sorry about that,” Saeki apologized, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly.

“No biggie. Kentaro didn’t want to dress up?” you asked.

“I _am_ dressed up!” Kentaro shouted, coming around the corner and dragging an uncomfortable Ryoma behind him.

“Isn’t that your tennis uniform?” Ryoma muttered.

Kentaro nodded, excitedly. “I’m dressed as a tennis player!”

You went to respond but stopped when Saeki put his hand on your shoulder, shaking his head. “It’s best just to nod and agree,”

“Right, right.”

Kentaro started to talk excitedly to the unamused Ryoma, while Hikaru made more of his stupid puns only to get kicked in the head by Harukaze. Saeki stood off to the side, watching the group with amusement lingering in his eyes.

You tapped Kyosuke’s arm lightly to get his attention. “I’m gonna get something to drink. Stay with Ryoma.”

He nodded and you walked off, in search of one of the classrooms that held drinks. When you walked in, the first thing you noticed was Arai dressed as Zoro, being circled by a group of giggling girls. Rolling your eyes, you walked over to the corner that held a mini-fridge and pulled out a can of soda.

Arms wrapped around you, pulling you into a protective hug. Instantly, you recognized who it was. “I didn’t think you were coming, brother.” You snatched Genichirou’s hat off his head and put it on your own. “You look better without it,”

In return, he grabbed the drink from your hand, making you scowl at him. “I’m not staying,”

“Why bother even coming then?”

“He brought me,” Akaya appeared next to him, also wearing the Rikkaidai school uniform.

“The others didn’t want to come?” You asked, taking your drink back and taking a sip.

“They had other plans. Can I…?”

You shrugged, handing the drink over to Akaya.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━


	3. Chapter 3

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━

Music was blaring through the crowded classrooms and hallways.

Everywhere you looked, you could see students chatting excitedly while devouring either candy or pizza. The school was so packed that quite a few students resorted to going outside just to get some breathing room and some quiet. You were glad it was cold outside for the main reason of it making it cold inside, as well.

“Hoi,” Eiji sighed from beside you. “The party ends at eleven-thirty!”

“You couldn’t expect it to go on forever, Eiji-senpai,” Momo commented.

Your group had decided to settle in an empty classroom on the fourth floor. The entirety of Seigaku – minus Tezuka – and Hyotei, plus Tachibana, Kamio, Tetsu, Mizuki, Yuuta, Shinya, Shinji, Akutsu, and Saeki had managed to all fit into the classroom together and you still had plenty of space to all sit around comfortably.

You were sitting in chairs that had been pushed up against the wall, sitting in between Atobe and Eiji. The three of you were watching the others playing around.

The first group, which consisted of Fuji, Kamio, Oishi, and Ryo, were playing spades. The second group, Momo, Ryoma, Tetsu, and Hiyoshi, were playing rummy.

Choutarou, Saeki, Shinji, and Gakuto were messing with the whiteboard, playing hangman. Akutsu and Taka had retreated to a corner where the two of them could talk in peace. Jirou, Yuushi, and Yuuta were playing with a portable video game. Jirou was the one playing, while Yuushi and Yuuta watched over his shoulder.

“But, we’re having so much fun!” Eiji pouted, sitting back in his chair. “I don’t want it to end!”

“All good things must come to an end,” Atobe murmured thoughtfully, running his hand through his hair and closing his eyes. “At one point or another.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, pretty boy is right,” you responded, causing Atobe to scoff.

“ _‘As much as I hate to admit it’_? Dear, I’m always right.”

“No, you only _think_ you’re always right,” you retorted.

“I take offense to that,”

Mizuki caught everyone’s attention when he started laughing in a psychotic way. He was standing behind Yuuta – who was currently playing the game. “Let them feel the wrath of St. Rudolph, Yuuta!” He snatched the game out of Yuuta’s hands and he stood to give Mizuki his seat. Yuuta sighed as he walked over, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed in front of you. You watched as Mizuki’s annoying maniac-worthy laughter started to grow louder.

“Hey, Yuuta?” you rested your foot on his back, in a similar fashion as someone would when they put their feet on the coffee table.

“Hmm?” He had his head in the palm of his hand, with his elbow on his knee.

“I think Mizuki’s lost it,”

“Lost it? I’m not even sure he ever had it.”

“That’s for sure, dane!” Shinya walked over to stand next to Yuuta.

“Can you lose something you never even had?” you muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

“I don’t… think so,” Yuuta muttered.

“Mizuki is a special case, though.”

“That’s true.” He shrugged, “Maybe it _is_ possible,”

Mizuki’s laughter grew even louder.

“Senpai?” Ryoma stood next to the chair that Atobe stood in, with his hands in his pockets. “Don’t you think you should do something?”

You sighed and stood, causing Eiji, Yuuta and Atobe to look at you curiously as you walked over to the annoying boy. Yuushi and Jirou watched in curiosity too as they stepped aside and out of your way.

Once you were behind him, you lifted your foot up and kicked him hard in the back of the head. He stood still for a few seconds before dropping the game, which Jirou caught, and falling to the floor unconscious.

“You may have overdone it a bit, Y/N-chan!” Eiji pointed out, poking the boy’s side with his foot. “I think he’s dead,”

You shrugged, “You can’t say none of you are happy that he finally shut up.”

“Very true,” he chuckled, holding up two fingers to form a V.

“I want some Ponta,” Echizen muttered randomly, causing most of the room to look at him.

“No one bought any,” Taka reminded him.

“There’s a vending machine on this floor that sells only Ponta,” Momo stood up.

“Is there?” Oishi asked, looking over at the black-haired boy.

“Where, where!?” Eiji exclaimed, grabbing onto Momo.

“By the stairwell leading up to the roof if I’m not mistaken,” you answered.

Fuji nodded in response. “You’re not,”

Atobe stood and clapped his hands together once. “Let’s go, then.” Everyone started to pile out of the classroom, minus the unconscious Mizuki, following Atobe down the hall.

“Does everyone really need to go for this?” Yuuta whispered as he walked next to you.

You sighed deeply. “ _‘Atobe is Law’,_ ”

He raised his eyebrow in question. “I love your sarcasm. Does he really say that?”

“Something like it, anyway.”

The end of the hall, where the Ponta machine and stairwell leading up to the roof lay, was pitch black, lit only by the small light given off from the machine. There was an eerie silence that lay in the air, as well. Not a single thing could be heard but the wind outside and the soft murmuring of the machine.

“Guys,” Eiji whined, grabbing onto Oishi’s arm. “Why is it so quiet?”

“We should be able to at least hear the faint sound of music. Ne, Kabaji?” Atobe said from the front of the group.

“Yes,” was Kabaji’s reply.

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t hear music when we left the classroom, either,” Oishi added.

Fuji nodded, “The previously crowded halls were empty, as well.”

“It was completely silent,” Ryoma mused.

You heard a bang, like two large doors being slammed shut, followed by all the lights in the building going off. The only light, now, was the small strip of moonlight shining in through the window and the soft glow of the Ponta machine.

Eiji gulped, “What’s going on!?”

“We might have been locked inside,” Yuushi responded, calmly, walking closer to the window to get a better view of his watch. “It’s eleven-fifty,”

“What!?” Eiji screamed, latching onto Momo.

“Calm down, Eiji-senpai!” Momo muttered, trying to pry the frightened redhead off of him.

Yuushi screamed out suddenly, stepping back before falling on his behind. He was staring at the window, his eyes open wide in shock. Confusion and even a little fear played in his dark eyes.

“Hm? What is it, Yuushi?” Atobe asked, walking over to stand next to the fallen boy.

“T-There…” he gulped, pointing to the window. “I saw a face!”

“A face?” Momo questioned, having finally shaken off the redhead.

“It was probably just your reflection, dane,” Shinya muttered, half-hearted.

Yuushi shook his head lightly, his eyes never leaving the glass before him. “No. This… _face_ … it wasn’t human.”

“Not human?” Kaidoh muttered in surprise.

“There’s no way Yuushi would lie about something like this,” Ryo muttered from behind you; he was looking over your shoulder to get a better view. Choutarou was doing the same on your other side.

“He looks genuinely freaked out,”

“Yeah,”

Atobe’s eyes narrowed as he walked over to the window, “I think someone is trying to mess with us.” As soon as the words left the boy’s lips, a bolt of lightning shot from the black sky. A heavy rain soon followed, bringing loud claps of thunder with it.

“That’d be the logical thing, but…” Fuji started.

“Eh?” Atobe turned around to face the brown-haired genius so that he stood in front of the fallen Yuushi with his back to the window.

“How is it possible for a face to appear and disappear within a few seconds time?”

“Fuji’s right!” Taka agreed, stepping forward to stand next to him, “Besides, we’re on the fourth floor!”

There was another flash of lightning and a chill went down your spine as you backed up against the wall, a couple people in the group letting out yelps of surprise and fear. Atobe blinked, confused, as he watched you all squeeze against the wall.

Momo pointed at the glass behind Atobe, his finger shaking. “Tell me I’m not the only one who just saw that!”

Atobe blinked again, turning around to look at the window. Another flash of lightning and the face reappeared, just to disappear a second later. Atobe stepped back, surprised.

You put your hands on his back, pulling him closer. “Still think it’s a trick? Or someone messing with us?”

“It has to be,” he muttered, stepping back again so that his back was directly in front of you. “What other explanation is there?”

Inui chuckled darkly, holding a flashlight under his chin as he stepped to the side so that all of you could see him. “I know of one,”

“Hmm?” Atobe narrowed his eyes at the boy, watching him closely.

“I read a story in the newspaper a couple of days ago. Five years ago today, a few kids were dared to stay in the school overnight on all Hallows Eve. Of course, the kids wanting to prove how brave they were, agreed to this. In the beginning, everything went smoothly. They were even having a bit of fun having the school to themselves all night long. But, then, it started to thunder and lightning outside, and the rain followed soon after. This mix of the three caused the power to go out. This, of course, freaked them out, since the school was much darker than before. As it turns out, a mass murderer had snuck into the school previously that day to hide out from the cops that were hot on his trail. The man was known as the Halloween Killer, killing only people who dressed up on Halloween. However, the kids came across him and recognized his picture. Why wouldn’t they? His picture was in every newspaper and on every TV channel, after all.

“The Halloween Killer couldn’t have these three children getting in his way and getting him caught. So, he did the only thing he could; he murdered them, one after the other, in cold blood. His weapon of choice, you ask? A knife. They say that those kids come out to haunt anyone who is in the school at night on all Hallows Eve. They torment the living, just as they were tormented. In fact, just a year ago, there were two kids who went missing in the school over night. They were in the bathroom when the school was locked up. The next morning, the only thing anyone could find of the two children, was a blood-soaked scarf.”

The group screamed in terror and took off running, all heading back to the classroom. You, Inui, Fuji, Atobe, Kyousuke and Ryoma were the only ones that stayed behind.

“You don’t honestly expect me to believe such nonsense, do you?” Atobe retorted, smirking at the dark-haired boy.

“You better, or you’ll be the first to go.” He chuckled darkly as he took off walking towards the classroom. Atobe’s smirk vanished and he stared at the ground, deep in thought.

“Y/N-senpai? Fuji-senpai? Should we believe him?” Ryoma asked, folding his arms behind his head.

You and Fuji exchanged glances.

“He did make up the story about that cursed racket, remember?” Fuji asked, placing his hand on his chin as he thought over the possibility of the story actually being true.

You nodded in agreement, “Yeah, but this story is a bit extreme, even for Inui, don’t you think?”

“Let’s get back to the classroom with the others. We’ll figure it out from there.” Atobe mused as he started walking down the hall. The rest of you followed close behind.

Atobe was trying to hide it, but he was just as worried and confused as the rest of you.

As expected, everyone was huddled in the classroom, looking utterly afraid. No one was even talking. Hell, you weren’t even sure if they were breathing. You took notice that the group was missing one person.

“Yuuta?” He looked up at you, “Where’s Mizuki?”

“Huh?” he looked over to the spot where Mizuki had previously been laying and jumped up immediately. “H-He’s gone!”

“How can someone just disappear!” Gakuto, Kamio, and Momo exclaimed at the same time.

“Maybe he came to and went looking for us?” Taka suggested, but his words sounded unsure.

Akutsu scoffed from the corner. “Y/N kicked him too hard for that,”

“He’s right,” Atobe said, thoughtfully. “There’s no way he would have woken up in such a short amount of time.”

“He couldn’t have just disappeared, though.” Oishi sounded just as unsure as Taka.

A scream echoed through the halls, sending a chill down everyone’s spine.

“W-What was that?” Kamio stuttered, holding onto Shinji who happened to be the closest standing to him.

“It was a boy’s scream,” Atobe mused from his position beside you.

“I told you,” Inui grinned. “The children killed here were two boys and one girl. The two that went missing were both girls.” He walked over to the whiteboard and wrote **VICTIMS**. Under that, he wrote _HAJIME MIZUKI_.

Yuuta and Shinya gulped.

“Does he really count as a victim, Inui-senpai?” Ryoma asked, “We don’t know what happened to him.”

“As true as that may be, Echizen,” Inui pushed his glasses up, “Considering the current situation, we have to assume the worst.”

“Maybe we should split up and look for him, dane,” Shinya suggested.

“No way!” Eiji and Gakuto exclaimed.

“Idiot! Everyone knows what happens to people when they split up from the group!” Momo told him, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt.

“Though, we could cover more ground that way,” Fuji commented.

“Fuji-senpai!” Momo didn’t look too happy about what was coming out of the genius’ mouth, “It’s too risky!”

“Bro, he’s right. They always go for the people who separate from the group first.” Yuuta wasn’t looking too happy about Fuji’s words, either.

“Unless, of course, we separate from the group into groups,” Atobe smirked.

“Then it’s settled. Kaidoh and I will stay here.” Inui walked over to the teacher’s closet and pulled out a fairly sized box, setting it on the teachers’ desk. “Each group will take a walkie talkie, just in case.”

“There will be five groups. Three groups will carry five people. Two groups will carry four since Inui and Kaidoh will be staying here as HQ.” Oishi explained, “Group leaders are…” he walked over to the whiteboard, writing **GROUP LEADERS** next to **VICTIMS** , followed by the names Keigo Atobe, Ryo Shishido, Kippei Tachibana, Kajiro Saeki, and Shuichiro Oishi.

Everyone had their full attention on Oishi, listening intently. Most of the room wasn’t too keen on this idea, though. To them, splitting up was splitting up, whether you went alone or went with someone else.

“Atobe’s Group: Y/N, Shusuke Fuji, Uchimura, and Akutagawa. Shishido’s Group: Ootori, Shinji, Momoshiro and Echizen. Tachibana’s Group: Kamio, Akutsu, Yanagizawa and Oshitari. Saeki’s Group: Ishida, Kabaji, and Mukahi. My Group: Yuuta Fuji, Kawamura, and Hiyoshi.”

The group leaders each took a walkie talkie before taking their group and heading off. Kaidoh and Inui stayed behind in the classroom, acting as your information center.

“I highly doubt just walking around is going to solve anything,” you muttered as you followed behind Atobe, who seemed more than happy to accept the role of leader.

“It’s more productive than just sitting around,” Fuji commented.

Jirou pushed his way to stand in between the two of you, “Is it me? Or is the school looking much scarier than earlier?”

Looking around, you understood what Jirou meant. The shadows were looming over you, almost as if they were watching the group. The rain was pelting the roof and windows even harder than it was a few minutes ago, making it almost impossible to see more than a few feet outside. The lightning kept lighting up the decorations, making them appear scarier and darker than before, and the thunder was so loud it was rattling the windows.

The black hallway seemed to stretch on forever, with no end in sight. Each classroom that you passed was dark inside thanks to the closed blinds over the windows – you couldn’t see anything but black. It seemed as if there was something there, however, looming in the shadows and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Every once in a while, a set of red eyes would appear in the rooms, disappearing in a blink of an eye. you rubbed your eyes, blinking a few times.

“What’s wrong?” Kyousuke asked, putting his hand on your shoulder.

“I think the darkness is messing with my eyes,” you muttered, rubbing them again.

“It’ll do that,” Atobe informed, leading the group still.

His walkie talkie made a static sound and Inui’s voice rung out in the darkness, “ _This is glasses to prince. Do you read me?_ ”

“Glasses? Prince?” You sweatdropped, “We have codenames now?”

“This is a mission, after all.” Atobe ran a hand through his hair, “Only the team leaders have codenames.”

You scoffed at his dramatics. Fuji chuckled.

“ _I have a layout of the school. In order to get the power back on, you have to reach the basement._ ”

“Understood,” he clipped the walkie talkie onto his belt. “Let’s move,”

“We never stopped moving,” you pointed out.

He glared at you over his shoulder, “You can’t just play along, can you, Y/N-hime?”

You cringed. “You know I hate that,”

“Of course, of course. While most girls dreamed of being princesses when they grew up, you were dreaming of being anything but. I believe your words were something like, _‘If I ever become a princess, I’ll throw myself in front of a bus’_ ,”

“Actually, I said train back then, Keitobe.”

His smirk vanished, being replaced by a frown. “I hate that name,”

“Don’t call me hime and I won’t call you Keitobe.”

“Agreed,”

“ _This is hats. Momo and Echizen have disappeared,_ ” Came Ryo’s voice over the walkie talkie.

“Disappeared?” Atobe asked back.

“ _They were walking behind me, Choutarou and Shinji. When Choutarou turned around to ask Momo something, neither of them were there._ ”

“They probably got lost,” you sighed, rubbing your forehead. You were feeling a serious headache coming on.

“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Fuji grinned.

“This isn’t a grinning matter,” you muttered.

His grin only grew.

“Knowing Echizen and Momo, they’ll be fine,” Fuji reassured.

“It’s not Echizen and Momo I’m worried about,”

“ _This is B &L reporting in. Nothing out of the ordinary, so far._”

“B&L?” Jirou asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Saeki, I’m guessing, because of his hair,”

“Oh,” Jirou blinked.

“ _Gangster reporting in. Akutsu left._ ”

“ _Left_?” Taka’s voice came over the walkie talkie, sounding worried.

“ _He said he’d take care of himself,_ ”

“ _Don’t worry too much, Taka. I’m sure he’s fine,_ ” Came Oishi’s calming voice.

“With any luck, he’ll run into Momo and Ryoma,” you commented.

“I wonder if they really got lost. Or if they were taken like Mizuki.” Jirou wondered, folding his hands behind his head.

“There’s no proof that Mizuki was taken by anybody,” you told him.

“Inui said to assume the worst,”

“Someone has to stay positive Jirou, and it’s not gonna be me.”

Kyousuke raised his brow at you but said nothing.

“Shouldn’t we have found the staircase by now?” Atobe asked, stopping to look around.

“We should have,” Fuji confirmed, stepping forward to stand next to him.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, heading in your direction. A silhouette of a person appeared, walking closer and closer.

You took a step forward, peering into the darkness. “It’s Akutsu,”

Sure enough, Akutsu appeared moments later, standing in front of you with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face.

“Prince to gangster. We found Akutsu.” Atobe reported.

“Why the hell aren’t there any stairs?” Akutsu growled in annoyance.

Fuji opened his blue eyes, his grin gone. “You didn’t find any?”

Akutsu shook his head.

“That’s not possible,” Kyousuke commented.

“This is Prince. Has anyone found the stairs yet?” Static. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”  
More static. Several distorted voices came through at the same time, high pitched murmurs that sounded none to human. The walkie talkie began to smoke before sparking, making Atobe drop it as if it had stung him.

Jirou whined in fear, grabbing onto you and holding you close.

“This is getting really weird,” you murmured.

“It’s getting really annoying,” Atobe scoffed.

“Atobe!” you suddenly called out, pulling free of Jirou.

“Eh?” He paused, watching as you grabbed his hand, holding it out so that his palm was facing the ceiling. The palm of his hand had turned red and there were several scratches on his fingers, deep enough for a small amount of blood to seep from the skin. “What the hell?” Atobe muttered quietly, staring at his hand. He hadn’t even noticed the wound.

You ripped a piece of your baggy shirt and wrapped it tightly around his hand, making him wince.

“D-Did the walkie talkie do that?” Jirou asked, clinging tightly to Fuji’s arm now.

“Looks like it,” you told him as you tied a knot in the cloth so it wouldn’t come undone.

“Let’s keep moving,” Atobe sighed and took off down the hall with the rest of you in tow.

“There has to be stairs somewhe-!” Atobe let out a yelp of surprise as he began to fall. You grabbed his hand just in time, falling to the ground.

“I think we found the stairs,” Jirou pointed out.

“Those weren’t there when I walked by here!” Akutsu growled, glaring at the stairs.

With a grunt, you pulled Atobe back up and onto his feet so that he stood next to you. “It’ll be difficult to go down these stairs with it being so dark,”

Atobe told everyone to be careful before putting one foot on the first step and climbing down slowly.

Jirou grabbed onto your right hand and Kyousuke grabbed your right hand before following you down the steps. Fuji had gone down before you so that he followed directly behind Atobe, while Akutsu brought up the rear.

Atobe stopped suddenly, almost making Fuji run into him. At the bottom of the stairs stood a completely black shadow. There was no outline indicating a human being. It was just blackness in the shape of a human.

Atobe put a hand to his face, his eyes narrowing before growing wide. “Whatever that thing is, it’s not human.”

The shadow started to climb the steps after you all but stopped when a scream echoed from the hall below. It turned its head in the direction the scream came and took off around the corner.

You pulled your hands away from the two boys and pushed past Fuji and Atobe, standing at the bottom of the steps and looking down the hall the shadow had just gone down. “It’s gone,”

Another shriek of terror echoed down the deserted halls.

“Those screams… they’re coming from this way,” you started to walk down the hall in the direction the screams were coming from. Atobe came up behind you, grabbing your hand tightly in his own and following close behind. The others followed suit.

The only thing we heard was our own footsteps until Atobe kicked something, almost causing him to trip until he grabbed onto you to steady himself. Upon closer inspection, we found it to be a human arm sticking out of the cracked door. You swallowed hard, reaching over and lightly pushing the door open.

Inside lay an unconscious Kaidoh, his mouth hanging open and a thick green liquid coming out of his mouth.

“Wasn’t he supposed to be with Inui?” Jirou grabbed onto the back of Fuji’s shirt.

“Does that mean Inui is missing too?” Kyousuke asked.

“Probably,” Fuji answered.

“Kaidoh,” you shook him and received no response.

There was a clang at the end of the hall and an empty can of Ponta came rolling your way. Jirou jumped in surprise, his arms tight around Fuji’s waist. Kyousuke grabbed your hand, squeezing it tightly.

Akutsu stepped forward and tried to pick up the can, but it slipped through his fingers because it was covered in a thick white liquid that looked similar to slobber from a dog. “It’s all slimy,” he held his hand up in disgust, the slime falling from his fingers and onto the floor.

“What is it?” Jirou asked, his grip tightening.

“You probably don’t wanna know, Jirou.”

“Ahhhh!” Momo and Ryoma came dashing around the corner towards the direction you just came – the same direction the can came from. They passed you by without noticing your presence but tripped when they reached Akutsu, sending all three of them to the ground.

“What the hell!?” Akutsu yelled, pushing the two boys off of him.

“Y/N-senpai,” Echizen breathed heavily, looking up at you.

“Fuji-senpai,” Momo looked at the tensai in disbelief.

They stared at you both for a minute before lunging. Momo grabbed a hold of Fuji, hugging him tightly around the neck, while Ryoma wrapped his arms around your waist, hugging you just as tight.

“Don’t ever leave us again!” The two boys chorused.

Fuji smiled, patting Momo’s back lightly. “Where did the two of you disappear to?”

“We stopped for one second. ONE!” Momo started.

“And when we started walking again, Shishido-san and the others were gone!” Ryoma added.

“We tried running to catch up,”

“But no matter how far or how fast we went, it seemed endless,”

“Then we started to hear scratching sounds, like nails on glass!”

“We looked over at the window and saw claw marks going down the glass!”

“We screamed and started running. That’s when we ran into you guys!”

“It seems like you two have been through a lot,” Fuji said, soothingly.

“Hey, guys? What should we do about Kaidoh?” Kyousuke asked.

“Viper?” “Kaidoh-senpai?” Both boys said in unison, pulling away.

“Yeah,” Kyousuke pointed to the spot on the ground before blinking. “Oh… he’s gone.”

“That’s impossible!” Atobe huffed, “We’re all right here! Someone would have seen something!”

“It must have happened when our attention was drawn to the soda can.” Fuji mused.

“ _Ahhhhh_!”

“That was Shishido!” you muttered, taking off down the hall with the others hot on your trail. You found yourself back at the staircase leading to the fourth floor.

Choutarou was on the floor, propped up against the wall opposite the stairs, unconscious. Shishido was on his back at the bottom of the stairs. Looming over him was the same shadow man you had encountered earlier.

Without a second thought, you drew your sword and charged at the figure. However, the strike went through him; it wasn’t a solid object! It let out an ear-piercing shriek before disappearing into thin air.

You ran over to Shishido, kneeling down next to him. “Are you alright?”

He opened his eyes slowly, groaning in pain. “H-How is C-Choutarou?” his voice was filled with pain as if it hurt him to speak.

Fuji kneeled next to Choutarou. “He’s fine. Just unconscious.”

“Akutsu. Help me get Ryo onto my back.”

Akutsu nodded and helped you pull Ryo to his feet. He groaned as Akutsu lifted him up and onto your back. You put your hands under his legs to support him. Akutsu ended up carrying Choutarou on his own back, despite his protests.

As the group started walking, you could feel Ryo’s breath even out, indicating that he had fallen asleep.

“What do you think happened?” Kyousuke asked, quietly.

“We won’t know ’til they wake up,” Fuji answered.

“The better question is what happened to Shinji.” Atobe murmured, leading the group.

“Even then, we might not find out much,” you sighed.

“That’s true,”

Ryo muttered something softly in his sleep, his grip around your neck tightening. Choutarou did the same thing, making Akutsu scowl. “Can’t we just shake them ’til they wake up? Or use some water?” We could all tell that Akutsu’s annoyance level was rising.

“We don’t have time to waste,” Atobe said, strictly.

“Besides, where are we supposed to find water?” Momo muttered.

“It’s like an endless maze,” Ryoma commented. “No matter which way we go or how long we walk, it’s like we’re not even moving.”

“I noticed that too,” you said.

Fuji nodded, “It’s sort of like walking on a treadmill. No matter how much you move forward, you’re still standing in the same spot.”

“Why though?” Atobe cursed, “I _know_ we’re moving forward.”

“An Illusion, maybe?” you suggested.

“Illusion?” Atobe stopped walking and put his hand to his face. He stood like that for five minutes until his eyes narrowed. “It’s no Illusion.”

“What other explanation is there?” Momo asked, feeling confused.

“There is none,” Fuji said, grimly.

There was a screeching sound, like a car slamming on breaks, coming from behind the group.

“We shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.” Atobe started to walk again, “Our top priority is to find the basement and restore the power. Then we can look for the others.” he paused, “Keep your eyes open.”

“Yes!” The group chorused.

━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━


End file.
